Too Much Technology?

Growing up, I was fascinated by my dads hands. They were huge. A game we played as kids involved dropping a quarter through his wedding ring. I think dad wore a size 15 ring. Hands formed by milking cows by hand. Sometime in the 60's they switched to a vacuum pump and bucket milkers. The time spent with each animal went down as the technology increased.
A recent run of events brought this topic to mind for me. But the topic, is one that we seem to running into headfirst.
If we make use of technology in caring for animals, does this diminish their quality of life?
The most recent catalyst for this discussion was a post that highlighted the Lely robotic milkers. Someone I respect a great deal, suggested that this would remove the basic tenets of animal husbandry. This also seems to be the charge leveled against any of today's large farms.
Can any farm with hundreds to thousands of animals really take care of them?
What constitutes care?
This same friend offered that animals make our lives richer, and that we enrich their lives. I can't argue that point, but does an animal need daily interaction with me to be fulfilled?
Is there a different level of interaction that each species would require? And lastly who gets to decide what that level is?
If some of the basic jobs can be done by others/machines, does that diminish what happens on the farm?

When I was growing up, one of the jobs I got, was cleaning the calf barn. With a pitchfork. You know, the manually operated kind. It took a couple of hours each week. Character building kind of work. Within two months of my taking an off the farm job, that barn was being cleaned with a skid loader. They replaced labor with capital. The trend continues today.
Today's farmers are faced with the same issues that people everywhere face.Pay the mortgage, raise a family, and try to improve their quality of life. Growing up on a 40 cow dairy, we rarely took vacations. A week away from the farm was almost unheard of. If an opportunity came up for a day away, it could work, as long as it fit between morning and evening chores. Relief milkers were difficult to come by at best, and impossible to find at worst. The expansion of the dairy allowed for more hired help, more available labor, and more flexibility in time off. 
But has animal care gone down? I'd argue that it has gotten better. The barn of yesteryear were dark dank old caves that lacked much of what we now know contributes greatly to animal welfare. People see animals in barns when on their summer vacations and wish they were out running in the pastures and meadows, but when they get out of their cars they head for the air-conditioned comfort of the motel. Today's barns offer shade, and a great deal of animal comfort. Are they perfect? No, but producers are always on the lookout for cost effective ways to take better care of their animals.
Do farms today look like an updated version of Olde McDonald's Farm? Nope, and most likely never will again. Does that automatically make us evil? Nope, it doesn't